caulfield12

If they can’t bring back Verlander somehow, sure…

Sure, but that’s when we were still getting our payroll back to normal levels for a contender…essentially a Top 12 one. And Lynn would likely not have received that money without first proving himself with the Sox first, plus the TLR connection. Keuchel I’ll give you, that was a bit of a head scratcher at the time but it worked for one season. The argument being we needed a proven veteran winner, the same reason the Royals added James Shields slightly past his prime. Just feels like the writing is already on the wall with Rodon and even Giolito…and this is a dangerous complacency if we are assuming all we need to do is stand pat to get through the Central for two more seasons. The word complacency is the operating word if we bring back the full coaching staff with Eloy in LF and no plan in sight for improving the catching spot behind Grandal. We’ll see, I guess. 2B feels like it’s Leury’s to lose until proven otherwise.

How many of them can pitch better than Rodon did the first half? I have a feeling we’re going to go the budget conscious way in the first half, then wait for another Scherzer to become available at the deadline. I’d almost rather they gave Verlander a one year deal where he could make $25-30 with incentives, plus some type of mutually appealing option year for 2023. Because the odds of producing another TOR starter internally the next two years look like somewhere between slim and none/zero. That said, the White Sox have never offered such a deal for someone to pitch just one season at even $18-20 million…

Or that Leury plays in fewer than 100 games? You just know he will be the starting 2B.

There’s no way to replace Rodon’s quality in FA because all those guys in the $15-20 range will target long/er term deals except Scherzer, Verlander and Kershaw. Does anyone see the Sox realistically going after one of them?

If they’re keeping Desclafini/Gausman and likely sacrificing Alex Wood for salary reasons, no way they’d take on Keuchel… Because if that’s the case, why not just keep Wood and not make a trade at all for a much more expensive and ineffective pitcher? Plus they have to bring back Belt as well. Even then, would that solve 2B? And who would take Keuchel’s and Rodon’s spots if both go? Giolito, Lynn, Cease, Kopech for limited innings…then? Lopez/Lambert/Stiever? It wouldn’t make the payroll any cheaper if they had to spend $6-7 million on another #4/5 veteran FA starter…which is even more of a crapshoot than Keuchel in all likelihood. Yet another overlooked aspect of the Madrigal trade, blowing up the payroll by another $6-12 million.

You’re really counting on another 500k fans with an increase in prices and potentially a strike or at least partially delayed start?

He will automatically produce like Keppinger…

Except Conforto is more likely to stay with the Mets on a QO and then hit FA at age 30 next year. Still would be a $6+ million bump up in salary despite coming off a middling year offensively.

Ummm...other than coaching tennis and seeing her at the WTA Wuhan Open in 2014, not really. Since the White Sox are already jinxed, the Padres (who actually won a playoff series last year) play in a division with two 105+ win teams and the Cardinals somehow won 17 in a row, and the Royals are the quintessential small market team (but made it to two consecutive WS and won one with other going to Bumgarner's heroics), not sure exactly who I jinxed. Maybe if I liked the Brewers, Mariners, Rays, Indians, Rays, Mets, Angels, Rangers, Phillies, etc.

Since when is a $13-14 million contract for Taylor not too much money for the White Sox…?

Tucker Barnhart for someone who will never make it to the big leagues in all likelihood. But then why risk being stuck with Kimbrel in a period of increased uncertainty…and mess with that so-called “unprecedented financial flexibility” even more?

See reunion with Eaton, although Avi’s obviously much younger…still overlaps with Abreu, Leury, TA and Rodon, to name a few.

But he is successful, at least, in making Thad Bosley look like a moderate…and Two-Gun Pete. He’s even honing in on Greg775’s near monopoly on complaints relating to concession, souvenir and parking prices, albeit more from a political/historical perspective.

Just buy a game-used Ariel Prieto jersey for the time being?

Now the pressure shifts to getting at least one “win” with homegrown Rodon if Kimbrel and Hernandez (both were hyped as moves for 2022 as well the week of those trades) don’t work out… Hopefully it’s a legit offer and not one of those “we endeavored diligently but just couldn’t quite get the proper framework in place that encompassed risk mitigation versus surplus value upside to be one of the top lefty starters in baseball in the prime of his career at age 29” Hahn-speak.

The risk on the downside (especially if the bullpen dynamic from last year is carried forth into 2022) just isn’t worth it. These are the type of moves that never ever go the White Sox way, because they so totally dislike eating anything in the $5 million salary range and up. And $6 million if properly assessed can still get you two 2021 Rodon’s instead of less than one broken down Eaton…if you know the talent and have expert medical evaluators.

Snell is still worth a heckuva lot more than Kimbrel on the open market…and there’s just no way we’re going to be happy with an offseason deal coming off the implosion in the second half and postseason. They risk holding him for 3-4 months in a non-closing role, they’re risking $16 million and not $1-2 or even $4-6 million. it obviously wasn’t a good fit. Next year isn’t going to change that dynamic. If I’m another team, I just wait for the White Sox to get more desperate trying to offload him before it all becomes a sunk cost for the Sox…this shouldn’t be about trying to make Hahn’s deal better than the D- it now ranks as.

Except Gordon was a much better athlete and also had a far better arm than Brantley…who’s on the field primarily for his bat and because Alvarez is the primary DH. Guerrero Sr. had one of the best arms in baseball history, but wasn’t all that mobile after the first half of his career. So you can probably argue mostly arm and athleticism the icing on the cake. In that sense, slimmed down Avi Garcia fits the mold. And Eaton had his best Sox season right as well due to outfield assists before being leveraged in trade.

Conforto hit free agency one year too late, unfortunately; after posting a spectacular 154 OPS+ in the shortened 2020, he managed only a league-average 101 OPS+ in '21, and ask any Mets fan, it sure felt like less than “league average.” The ongoing uncertainty in the Mets' front office isn’t helping matters, though they would reportedly extend him an offer anyway,understandable given his track record of success. But would he accept? The $18.4 million qualifying offer would be a sizable raise over the $12.3 million he made this year, and he'd be stepping into an extremely uncertain market given the year he just had. At 29, he might well prefer to head into free agency next year coming off a better season than the mediocre one he just completed. Prediction: Receives offer, accepts it Rodón’s path has been wild. A year ago, the oft-injured lefty was non-tendered by the White Sox, who months later signed him to a mere one-year, $3 million deal without a promise of a rotation spot. They were rewarded with a stunning season, as Rodón threw a no-hitter, made the All-Star team and will probably get some Cy Young votes. The problem, given his history, is that he had repeated issues with shoulder soreness down the stretch; he pitched just 28 innings in the final two months. This is a tricky one, but because Rodón was so good this year (and managed to hit 99.4 mph in his brief ALDS appearance) that we think he’ll try his luck on the market. Prediction: Receives offer, declines it https://www.mlb.com/news/predicting-the-2021-qualifying-offer-choices?partnerId=zh-20211104-496309-mlb-1-A&qid=1026&utm_id=zh-20211104-496309-mlb-1-A&bt_ee=nCdHRqxaITklTvrd%2Fd1gnoo2TStugw9Uj3%2FJYC8%2B5FW%2F7j%2B0BVgaVzrGxBQpcgnT&bt_ts=1636032644134

“His leadership style stands out,” said Padres general manager A.J. Preller. “He has honest and tough conversations and looks forward to them, while still motivating his players to go out and play for him.” Perhaps the biggest reason Melvin has struck those balances is his ability to adapt. He admits that he was, at first, hesitant to embrace new-school concepts. "The game has changed a lot, especially from when I first started," Melvin said. "I learned a lot about analytics in Oakland. It was a little painful at times early on, based on the fact that I grew up looking at the game a little bit differently. "But I think it's made me better. It's opened my eyes. Any information that you get, whether it's information that comes from your experiences and/or information that comes from data, you can marry that. That's what I learned in Oakland -- there's a different way to look at the game." https://www.mlb.com/news/bob-melvin-s-perspective-on-padres-season

I thought he was known as just a symbol...drum roll.

No, since nearly every US site is being blocked these days in China...Yahoo.com just this week, I have to keep flipping back and forth between VPN and regular internet and sometimes it just gets "stuck" or frozen because our school WiFi sucks. SoxTalk admins will be happy to know that their website hasn't been targeted for a ban, YET.

The Braves might not want to pay him $9,500,000 next season...they can focus on profitability coming off the World Series. He's one of those guys who won't make your team, nor will he (likely) kill it either, a true complementary player. He's also 33 already. Just don't like adding any position players these days that are older than 32...

But if Rodon can get 3/$45-50...that's still going to be really hard to turn down, too. But just guaranteeing that $18.4 million for one season would completely set the family for life...right now, including the original signing bonus, his career earnings are: $19,311,276 So he would almost double his career earnings with the QO acceptance, putting him at at almost $38 million for 11.9 (plus 2022's numbers) fWAR...